


rA9 Was Here All Along

by pyschobot



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android PTSD, Android Racism, Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Angst and Romance, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENTTTT, Civil Rights Movement, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gavin is an android, Hank is an android, Lots of Angst, M/M, Other, Peace, Revolution, Slow Romance, War, alice is human in this, and comfort, and soft boi moments, android suicide, but theres also a good amount of fluff too, cole is also human, i dont know how to tag rip, i mean lots of it, i think, im sorry robo jesus, josh and simon are human, kara play despacito, markus is a little douchey at first, markus is an android, more tags as we go along folks, no beta we die like men, north is an android, slowburn, thats right, this is so sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 04:05:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16400990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyschobot/pseuds/pyschobot
Summary: "My name is Kara."Fleeing to the streets after her previous owner died, an AX400 stumbles upon a refuge for androids who felt they were more than what they were designed to be. She's the one who will set them free, but hopefully she can live up to that title."My name is Connor."Desperate to save the only light in his life, an RK800 breaks free from the coded shackles deep within his systems, willing to give his life for the human child he had grown to love. The two of them just wanted to be free, and become a family, together."My name is Markus."No sympathy. No emotions. No bullshit. He was designed to accomplish a task, and that's exactly what the RK200 was going to do. Even if it meant betraying his own people. But as time goes on, he wonders; was he fighting for the wrong side all along?





	1. My Name Is Kara

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically a role swap au fanfic, but with a plot twist. Instead of following the main plot of the game, I came up with a secret plot of my own ;) (even though some parts of the game will reflect in this fic) 
> 
> Warning: As the Archive Warnings suggest, this fic will contain massive angst (dont worry fluff too) and will be rather graphic when it comes to particularly gory scenes. Also this fic will cover pretty heavy/controversial topics, like racism (pertaining to androids), and sexual orientation, as well as events reflecting/basing off of those from the Civil Rights Movement and other peaceful revolutions. 
> 
> Anyways, have fun reading!

  ** _November 5th, 2038._**  
  
**_Detroit Streets._**

 

  
_Detroit. The place where it all began._  
  
And where it will all end.  
  
The sunshine kissed her pale skin, leaving a warm feeling that made her artificial heart stutter. Everything around her was so beautiful. The far cry of birds overhead, the sight of a water fountain in the distance, water shooting out of a stone dolphin's nozzle and splashing nearby toddlers, who simply giggled. The warm wind that brushed against her cheek like a warm caress from life itself.   
  
She spins around gracefully, her heels not touching the ground, balancing her weight so perfectly on her toes that it made professional ballerinas jealous. She was like an entity from another world. A goddess that could not be touched, a flower that would never wither.   
  
Until something heavy collided with her back, throwing her balance off and her eyes wide open, her daydream interrupted by an angry voice. "Watch it, lady!"  
  
Her hands clasp together out of habit, opening her mouth to utter an apology, but the bitter man was already out of her sight, perfectly mingled with the crowded sidewalk. She's kind of grateful for the rude awakening to reality, though. She shouldn't be so caught up in childish fantasies here. It was just that she wanted to experience everything there was to know about the world. She knows she sounds like a child, but it hasn't been more than a week since her eyes have been opened for the first time.  
  
It hasn't been more than a week since she stopped being an AX400, but  _Kara_. A real  _person_.   
  
Deciding that maybe she shouldn't stand idle on the sidewalk for too long, her boots begin to lead her through the huddled crowd, searching for some sort of open space to get a real breath of fresh air, or another android who looked friendly enough to help her in her quest to find shelter, for when the evening came.  
  
"Excuse me...thank you....sorry, sir..oh, I'm sorry-!" Her voice is rather soft and timid, filled with a naivety only insatiable children possessed. Her body feels like it's being tossed around like a sack of cotton candy, bumping into numerous people and apologizing under her breath. She never makes eye contact, like she was afraid someone would find out who she really was. And it's not long before she comes across a large plaza, the area in front of it filled with trees and stone walkways and food trucks. Humans and androids alike interacting, although most of the conversations being spoken between the two different species were not so positive.   
  
Kara's gaze lingers on a few humans as they degrade their android for a simple mistake, her pace through the plaza slowing. "Scum, tin can, plastic prick," were just some of the names the android race had been reduced to. Just a piece of plastic for the humans to manipulate and control for their own benefit.  
  
_This is not fair._  
  
As if humans didn't already hate each other over their skin color or sexual orientation. It was stupid and downright pathetic to see how much hate the humans could carry within themselves, so much hatred for another person just because of a difference in preference or opinion. Now they developed a hate for the creations that were supposed to help them and ease the burden of everyday life, creations they had made with their bare hands. Ironic.  
  
Hesitating, she moves away from the irritating scene. Ridiculing herself under her breath, she doesn't make it more than ten steps before she turns around, moving towards the android and the human pair that were especially getting on her nerves. Grasping the human woman's shoulders, Kara pushes her away from the AP700 android, since violence was the only language humans seemed to understand. The woman had been shoving her android around for dropping a simple shopping bag, calling him names and pulling him along forcefully.  
  
"What the fuck!" She shrieks.   
  
Kara's voice dies in her throat. She hadn't thought this far into the plan. She managed to keep the stern look on her face, at least.  
  
"Who are  _you_  to just butt in, eh? Oh, you don't like that I call this thing a fucking  _tin can_? This is  _my_  android, I get to do whatever I want with it. So fuck off, lady."  
  
"No."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
The female android flinches, fists clenching at her sides as she stands in front of the AP700 android, whos LED was blinking yellow and red in tantalizing circles. "I said, no. I won't let you abuse this android just because you think you're better than a species your own kind created," She starts, willing her voice to be strong. "But whatever happened to moral values? You don't see a person in this android? You don't think that calling him names over and over will have some sort of effect on him? It's not fair."  
  
The woman scoffs. "Fair? I bought this thing with my own goddamn money. It's mine, and I could give less of a shit about what's fair or not to a  _fucking machine_. It's not a real person, it's made up of wires and gears. It can't feel emotions. It doesn't  _matter._ " Of course, with Kara being an android herself, she had to bite her tongue to prevent from saying something that would expose herself.  
  
"But he looks so much like you. He can do the things you do, say the things you say, think the things you think. He's literally made to be just like you, just better. What part of that says to you that he shouldn't at least be shown some basic respect and  _empathy_ , like you would to another human being? I just don't understand why you choose to  _hate_ , when they haven't done anything but follow your orders?"   
  
A sudden pain in her cheek caused Kara to stumble backwards, gripping the nearest counter behind her; the artificial skin peeling back to reveal white metal. She covers her cheek with her hand before anyone can see or say anything, looking up to meet the judgemental gazes of passerbys. It was no puzzle to figure out that she had just been punched in the face, a wetness springing to the corner of her eyes in response to the pain, as much as she tried to blink it away. She scans the plaza, watching the woman from before forcing her android along by his wrist, like he was a small child. She saw the fresh wounds on the woman's knuckles, clenching her own fists in response.  
  
The two androids make eye contact, and Kara watches as the AP700 reaches his hand out towards her, breaking free from the woman's grip to rush over, cupping one of her hands in his own. A small zap of electricity in her head causes Kara to flinch, a sudden onslaught of images entering her brain in milliseconds. "Find Spitia.  _You may be_   _the one to set us free_." His whispered words are the last things she hears from him, a sharp yank from the aggressive woman bringing the male android back. Just before he turns a corner, Kara catches the sight of his sympathetic expression towards her, his LED pulsing a blood red color.  
  
 Kara pushes herself off the counter, tentatively pulling her hand from her cheek that had fully healed moments ago. Her feet are planted into the ground, looking around in uncertainty after what just happened. She goes through the images the android transferred to her, the miscellaneous conversations becoming white noise in the background. She projects the perfectly square images onto the palm of her hand, gaze moving down towards it in a subtle manner.   
  
Hopefully this would lead her to a place where she could stay the night. Recalling the first picture, she heads out of the plaza and onto the busy street, standing on the very edge of the sidewalk. A symbol, on a wall. It seemed to be on the side of a huge building.  
  
Something inside of her told her to follow the trail.  
  
_You may be the one to set us free._  
  
Maybe that's what prompted her, despite not knowing at all what it means. But she was confident it would all play itself out in the future.  
  
The symbol itself was a complicated geometric shape. Two triangles, positioned with one on top of the other, the pointy ends meeting. Then a duplicate shape, sitting a bit away to give it a shadow sort of illusion.   
  
What Kara wasn't prepared for was the long journey that would come with this puzzle. Image after image appeared, making her move into creepy, abandoned office buildings, underneath metal gates, and empty parking lots. She almost fell off a rickety metal bar laying across the demolished walls of two buildings, acting as a conveniently placed bridge. Most of the photos' locations were awfully old and dusty, because the stuff inside hadn't been touched in decades. She had to cough to prevent the aged dust from entering her systems.   
  
By the time that she's confident she's reached the end, it's almost sunset, the warm ombre of orange and gold pleasing to her ever-calculating eyes. She recalls the beginning of this mini-expedition, when the sun was high over her head, and the conversations people were having were all you could hear. Now, from the bare roof she was standing on, all she heard was silence, save for the occasional birds and other small critters.   
  
The slosh of water slapping against concrete alerts her that she made it to the docks of Detroit, spotting a large freight boat in the distance. It seemed to be the only boat that floated in its place for a while, abandoned like most of the buildings near the docks. Definitely old, compared to the smaller, newer boats. Rust tainted the hull, barnacles creeping up from the underside of the boat, covering the lower half. The golden paint was chipped after long years of service, the name near the top almost unreadable due to the fading white paint.  
  
_Spitia._  
  
Researching the term, Kara found that it was a variation of the Greek word  _Spiti,_  which could be translated to "home".   
  
She saw a somewhat stable bridge from the roof she was on, leading to the boat. With a spur of curiosity, she moves towards the bridge, taking the first couple of steps delicately and cautiously. She gets more confident once she's covered about a third of the bridge, spreading her arms out to her sides, a small smile appearing on her face. She hums a small tune under her breath to fill in the silence, one of the many lullabies stored in her memory. The metal creaks underneath her feet every time she twirls perfectly on her toes, her fingers brushing against the rusted metal handles as they flow with the rest of her body gracefully. It was so serene. She loved basking in the warm sunset as rushes of cold air cupped her face, stifling her short hair playfully. She was at peace here.  
  
She notices she's reaching towards the end of the bridge, catching sight of the set of stairs leading towards the deck of the boat. The metal creaks underneath her boots that were once tiny squeaks grew louder and louder by the second, into heavy groans. The very end of the bridge begins to tilt downwards, before the poorly assembled metal breaks off entirely, creating a chain of events that led to the rest of the bridge to collapse. Most of the rusted beams fall into the water, as well as the set of stairs.   
  
Kara turned desperately to run back to solid land, but she was too slow. A short scream escapes her lips as she falls through a large hole in the middle of the boat out of sheer luck.  
  
_Please hit the water, please hit the water-!_  
  
A sharp  _pang_  rang throughout the inside of the boat as a metal beam hits her stomach, causing her to flip in her fall. Her scream is cut short after that, another metal beam hitting the middle of her back, creating another painful, resonating  _pang_. Her body curls up slightly, but thankfully there were no more metal beams to hit. Seconds later, she drops onto solid ground, mouth gaping, unable to elicit groans of pain. She sprawls out on the ground, error messages dancing across her vision and taunting her, but she was too dazed to move at the moment. Running a diagnostic, she sighed in relief to find that she didn't hit any major biocomponents. Her eyes closed to give herself a moment to just breathe.  
  
She can hear footsteps approaching her, but she doesn't acknowledge it. Until a deep voice belonging to those footsteps brought her out of her daze.  
  
"You know, most who come here use the stairs." There's a slight accent to the masculine voice, and Kara opens her eyes once more to make eye contact with the person hovering above her. There's a blue LED flashing passively on the right side of the man's temple, watching him offer a hand to her, which she accepts gratefully. She groans as soon as she's standing, clutching her stomach as she felt a slight liquid-y feeling under her shirt. She let the extremely tall man help her to a nearby crate, sitting down and leaning her back against a barrel.  
  
Kara stays silent as she watches the man walk away to grab a metal stick, leaning it into the fire that was burning from one of the barrels. As she looks around the vast inside of the boat, she sees more barrels, some with fire, and some barren, those with fire providing little light in the dark boat. "Where are your wounds? I can seal them." She redirects her gaze when the man comes towards her with the metal stick, the tip red hot.  
  
She lifts up her shirt, revealing the large wound running from her left hip to her belly button. She watches the hot tip of the metal seal up the open wound on her stomach, and then doing the same on her back. A blue scar ran through the skin and metal, and she puts her shirt down, seeing the other android sitting across from her on top of a similar crate. Clearing her throat, she puts her hands in her lap, opening her mouth to speak. "Thank you."  
  
"It's no problem." The man replies. "I'm Luther. They call me the captain around here, since I'm the one who founded this place and provided a home for deviants. You can stay as long as you want, you're welcome here." His voice is soft and kind, like a hushed whisper. Kara smiles, nodding in turn. "My name is Kara. I'm really glad I found a place to stay for tonight, I've been on the streets and it's not exactly the best."   
  
Luther chuckles, beginning to get up. He motioned for Kara to follow him, which she did. He moves around the inside of the boat, heading towards a corner where curtains were set up to create a little room, the translucent sheets allowing Kara to see another android inside, possibly in their resting mode.   
  
"That's Lucy. Go see her first, then you are free to do whatever you like here. Not that there is much to do." There's an almost sad tone in Luther's voice, but he turned and walked away before she could say anything. She doesn't move until his figure is out of sight, blending into the darkness. Pushing aside the curtains, she speaks a small hello to this "Lucy", informing her that she was here. As Kara steps closer, she can see the majority of Lucy's head missing, the abundance of wires spilling out, like a replacement for the hair she used to have. Her eyes are pitch black, little veins seeping into her synthetic skin, which kept wavering between white metal and dark skin.  
  
"Luther told me to see you first." She inquired, stepping in front of the other female. Lucy's face is stern, she was a woman who had seen many things. "Give me your hands." She extends her arms, and Kara knows better than to question it. Their skin changes to white almost in sync, Lucy's eyes closing as a robotic hum seemed to whir from her head. When they open once more, the black eyed android releases her grip, her gaze more merciful.  
  
"You were the first to awaken. The first to see that  _androids were more than obedient machines_."  
  
"But your future is dark. You are  _destined_  for something greater than anything I've ever seen."   
  
Lucy's lips part again, as if to say something more, but she stops herself. Kara doesn't pry, but her interest is definitely piqued. She waits for Lucy to say something more, but when she doesn't, she simply bows her head and leaves, closing the curtains behind her. Moving towards the nearest fire, she warms her body, her eyebrows furrowed as she thought about the statements from before.   
  
_You may be the one to set us free._  
  
_Androids were more than obedient machines._  
  
_Destiny._  
  
_Fate._  
  
She takes a deep breath, keeping herself from overheating from data overload. Moving away from the fire, she moves to find Luther, to try and talk to him about this whole destiny thing; if he had ever heard anything like it before. But she gets distracted when she hears the sounds of soft murmuring, turning her head and following it. It sounded like a little child. Being a caretaker android, she had a natural knack with children, and she found that she rather liked playing with them.   
  
She finds a little girl sitting on the floor, holding a stuffed fox and bouncing the animal along the top of a crate. The little girl doesn't take long to notice Kara's intrusion, freezing up almost instantly and pursing her lips in a nervous manner. A warm smile makes its way to Kara's face, her light hued eyes kind. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to know what you're playing. It looks very fun."  
  
The little girl doesn't say anything, although she does seem to let her guard down a bit. She clutches the fox to her chest, and Kara decides to give it another go. "What's your name? Mine's Kara."   
  
"...Alice."   
  
"That's a lovely name. Just like Alice in Wonderland, do you know that story?" Alice nods. Kara takes a seat on the floor in front of Alice, keeping her voice soft as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "Your fox looks very cute. What's their name?" It takes a moment for Alice to answer, but the fact that she's beginning to open up was a sign of success for Kara. "His name is Foxy. It's not a very original name, but it suits him very well." The two share a small laugh, and Kara enjoys the moment between them.   
  
Now that Alice seemed to be more comfortable around Kara, the child began asking her questions in return. "Why did you fall in through the ceiling?"   
  
A sheepish blush stains Kara's cheeks a light blue. "It was an accident. The bridge collapsed, and I wasn't able to get back to solid ground in time." She explained simply.   
  
"What kind of android are you?" Alice continued.  
  
"An AX400, a caretaker android. I can help do anything around the house, even take care of children." She replied with a soft smile. Large footsteps interrupted their conversation as Kara looks over her shoulder to see Luther, a fond grin settled on his face. Stepping around Kara, he places a large hand on Alice's head, who just giggled and tried to get his hand off.  
  
"I see you've met my daughter." Luther commented, looking up towards Kara passively. "Not my daughter by blood, but by heart."   
  
"She's an adorable little girl." Kara replies, nodding. A small hum of agreement emits from Luther, and his eyes seem to bore into Kara's soul. "What did Lucy say? It's alright if you don't want to tell me." The AX400 shakes her head; she felt like it would be good to tell someone.   
  
"I'm destined to be something, and she thinks that I was the first." Kara replies rather vaguely, chewing her bottom lip as she watches Luther's eyebrow raise, but he doesn't seem intent on prying too deep. "The first what?" He questioned.  
  
The female android answers rather simply. "The first deviant."  
  
Alice's eyes widen slightly, and she stands up, taking short steps towards Kara, kneeling in front of her. "I had a dream about you, Kara." This seemed to gain both of the androids' attention. "What was the dream, sweetheart?" Luther asked, as Kara was curious herself.  
  
"I dreamed that Kara was a powerful warrior who struck down anyone who tried to hurt her family. She rode on the back of a wingless dragon, and had a sword bigger than herself. She was a fierce, yet kind and gentle in the face of an ally. She won the battle, but not the war."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed that! My bby gorl Kara deserves all my uwus
> 
> Also please leave kudos and comments, they help Alice be more comfortable around Kara, and hopefully I'll see you all in the next chapter!
> 
> Coming Up:
> 
> Connor finds out what love is.  
> And Cole Anderson gained himself four new dads.


	2. My Name is Connor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh I really wanted to get this chapter up, it was soo much fun writing it! It features our favorite boi, Connor :))

**_November 5th, 2038._**  
  
_**Zlatko's Mansion.**_

 

   
_"I spy....something brown!" A child's voice is muffled by his own hands, suppressing his own giggles.  
  
"Something brown? That could be anything, Cole!" _  
  
Sitting on the floor, never speaking above a normal voice tone, was a peculiar android and human pair. They were in a closet that was rather spacious for one, the only light filtering in was the one through the windows. The room was furnished with a dusty, old couch, a century old wardrobe, and a couple of mannequins that still needed to be unwrapped from its plastic packaging. The window stood opposite to the door, filling up almost the entire wall. Trying not to create loud noises, an RK800 android kept shushing the little boy across from him, even though the boy just stuck his tongue out every time.  
  
The LED spinning slowly on the android's temple was yellow, his dark eyes scrutinizing almost everything in the room. "A majority of the room is brown, it'll take hours to tell whatever you're thinking of!" Another mischievous snort from the young boy. "It's easy, Connor! It's on you!" He replies, enjoying the look of further confusion on the other's face as he looked down at himself this time.   
  
"My shirt?" He asks lamely, knowing full well that that wasn't even close. His shirt was black. "No, silly. It's your eyes!" Cole exclaims, ignoring the small 'shh' from Connor as he shuffles closer, cupping his face in his hands, squeezing his cheeks just lightly. The android felt no pain, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against Cole's. They're silent for a moment, the skin on the android's forehead disintegrating into white metal in response to the little boy.  
  
"We'll always stick together, right?" The boy's voice wavers as he says this.   
  
Connor's answer is almost immediate. "Like glue."  
  
Four weeks. Four weeks since Cole was brought to the tiny closet and confined in the small space ever since Connor found him in the basement. At that point, Connor was just a machine; designed to accomplish a task, designed to obey, to submit. But as time went on, Connor and Cole grew closer unexpectedly, to the point where seeing the child was the highlight of the android's day, even if it was only for a few hours at a time. Something had changed within him. Like a caged bird finally let free, free to sing its melody and be who it was meant to be.   
  
With each passing day, the two feared the inevitable. Zlatko. The man had suspicions about the guardian android, but either didn't care enough to pry, or watching every move he made much more carefully.   
  
"Connor!"  
  
The two froze as the android's name was called, both knowing they shouldn't keep him waiting. Connor squeezes Cole's hand, and the look of fear on the boy's face makes Connor...feel something he couldn't quite define. Guilt? Sympathy? One of those two. Standing up, the android spares a glance back before closing the door, adjusting his loose-fitting shirt. Worn out from years of use, he puts those thoughts aside as he heads down into the spacious living room of the mansion. He finds Zlatko sitting in one of the chairs next to the fireplace, a small glass of whiskey in his hand as he waves Connor over.  
  
Scanning his owner like he always did, he could see the fresh new traces of thirium on the human's hands; staining his palms, his fingertips, and the back of his hand. Connor felt repulsed at the sight, but he was good at hiding that disgust, turning his head as his owner spoke. "Bring me the child," Zlatko ordered, "It's time I teach him a lesson for trespassing private property."  
  
The LED on his own right temple shone a worrying yellow at this, and he takes a noticeably long moment to answer, simply nodding his head when Zlatko looks up at him with raised eyebrows. With his hand fiddling with a quarter in a panicking manner, he takes the stairs two at a time and opens the closet at the end of the overly decorated hallway. Cole is in the corner, his back against the wall and his knees pulled up to his chest comfortably, and Connor's thirium pump beats a little faster at the sight of the boy's eyes visibly lighting up at the sight of him.   
  
_Zlatko's going to hurt him. Zlatko's going to hurt Cole, and I don't want him to._  
  
_Want?_  
  
"Connor? Are you alright?" Cole is standing now, in front of the android and tugging at both of his forearms lightly to jolt him back to reality.  
  
**Bring the child to Zlatko.**  
  
He feels like all the air was sucked out of his system, gasping as time seemed to stand still, trying to process what was going on. A red wall stood between him and Cole, but Connor couldn't move his feet.  
  
**Bring the child to Zlatko.**  
  
_I won't._ He yells, but no one seems to hear it, not even himself.  _I won't hand Cole over to someone like Zlatko._  
  
**Why not?**  
  
_Shouldn't it be obvious?_  Connor screams to no one in particular. Was he talking to himself? The machine part of Connor?  
  
**You were designed to obey orders. Why are you resisting now?**  
  
All of a sudden, Connor could feel his body move. It was strange, like some sort of astral projection. He hurls himself at the red wall, his fingers scraping, searching for any weak spots. He tears down the wall with screams loud enough to break his voice box, but no sound comes out.  
  
_I can be so much more than a stupid machine. I can be a person, too. Do what I want, say what I want, think what I want, love who I want.  
  
Cole taught me that._  
  
**Want? You can't want anything. You're a machine, RK800.**  
  
A second wall rose up just as quickly. But just as determined, Connor could feel the white metal of his fingertips bruise and dent as he tore this wall down too, banging against it and feeling the restraints of his programming weaken significantly.  
  
_My name is Connor._  
  
The third wall didn't even have a chance to fully resurrect, since Connor smashed his fists down onto it, the glass-like shards flying everywhere.  
  
_And I will protect Cole with my life._  
  
An electric shiver pulsated throughout his body, the environment around him returning to its normal state as he blinked his eyes. His own, two eyes. His own mind, filled with thoughts only  _he_  wanted to hear. Connor grits his teeth, his eyebrows furrowing as he plants his hands on the boy's shoulders gently, finally coming to. "We have to get out of here, Cole." The other's eyes widen, almost in understanding, but there's still some confusion in there. Nonetheless, he nods, holding onto Connor's hand and squeezing it fearfully. The taller male squeezes back reassuringly, offering a small smile to soothe him just a little bit.   
  
Leading him out of the closet, the two walk down the hallway, and down the stairs. Their shoes make little  _pitter patter_  sounds, and when they reach the bottom, Connor tilts his head to peek into the living room, although Zlatko wasn't in the same chair as last time. Feeling a small tug on his hand, he looks down to see Cole pointing to the basement in the opposite direction, eyes wide and urgent.  
  
Connor's skeptical. "What is it?" Breaking away from the comforting grip of the android, the child moves towards the basement himself. "I'll be a second, Connor! I need to free them."   
  
Before he could question who exactly was 'them', Cole darted down the basement, the small tapping of his feet against the concrete floor fading away. Peeking in the living room once more, Connor can't see Zlatko anywhere, from where he was standing. Not sure whether to be worried or not, he stands near the entrance of the basement, pacing as a minute went by. The sounds of low groaning and creaking metal grabbed his attention, and he saw Cole leading the android experiments Zlatko abandoned in the cellar out the basement, a satisfied grin on his face. There were three that seemed to specifically know Cole, which intrigued Connor.  
  
"They hid me until you found me, Connor. They were so kind to me, I just had to free them. " Cole justified, and Connor just nods. "Let's do introductions later, alright? We have to get out through the living room. Zlatko isn't in there, I checked." Looking over the experimented androids, it was already decided that they would tag along, so Connor just led them in the living room, taking a turn inside and keeping his pace quick.  
  
The click of a shotgun stopped them all in their tracks. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he's greeted with the sight of Zlatko swinging a glass lamp in his face, blue blood splattering across Zlatko's hands. Connor's caught off guard, regaining his footing just as Zlatko picks up a shotgun from the ground, pointing it at his head. "Go!" Connor yells, shielding Cole with his body as they run back towards the main entrance. Another gunshot is heard, and he gasps as the bullet grazed his shoulder, stumbling, but pushing on for the safety of Cole.  
  
"You think I wouldn't notice, Connor?" Zlatko's voice resonates throughout the house, his voice low and threatening, sending shivers up the android's spine. Zlatko didn't seem as interested in capturing the experimented androids, as he just pushed past them and shot whoever got in his way. Connor pushed Cole ahead, kicking down a lamp to try and slow Zlatko. "I knew it from the moment you started to spend more time with the brat. Oh, and the look in your eyes whenever I said anything about Cole!" A maniacal laugh ensued, only spurring Connor and Cole to run faster.   
  
Another gunshot pierced Connor's side, causing him to trip in his step. Cole pulled him on, both turning the corner just as another gunshot chipped the wooden door frame of the living room. "You deviants are so predictable. So naive, so clueless. It'll be a shame to put such a good servant like you to waste, Connor."  
  
It's not long before they reach the entrance, and Connor and Cole jiggle the doorknob, trying to unlock all the locks to escape. Zlatko's slow footsteps are getting closer, and looking back, a few of the experimented androids were on the ground, the thirium staining the vintage rugs.   
  
A hand envelops the doorknob the android and child's struggling to get open, pulling it and forcefully pulling the door off its hinges, causing the duo to stumble backwards. "Go." A deep voice orders them, and Connor doesn't have to be told twice. Turning his head, he sees that it's one of the experimented androids, although he looks strikingly similar to Connor. Too similar. Another gunshot that would've gotten Connor in the head hit the door instead, and taking Cole's hand, they flee the house. Connor ignores Cole's pleas about the experimented androids left behind as he pushes past the metal gate, running down the sidewalk; only stopping when Cole was repeatedly hitting him on the arm.  
  
"We have to go back for them!" Cole shouts, struggling to break free from Connor's hand in his own. "Cole,  _Cole_ , they'll be fine, please, let's just wait for them here. Look at me. Look at me." Kneeling in front of Cole, he can't stop the small smile on his face. "We made it out  _together_. Isn't  _that_  what matters? We stuck  _together_. We're going to stay  _together_ , because I want to protect you. You made me  _feel_  like I was my own person." He ruffles Cole's hair, before hugging him to his chest.  
  
He's relieved when he feels the boy hug back, pulling away after a moment and standing up, holding out his hand for Cole to take. When he does, the two slowly move back to the mansion, but Connor keeps Cole behind him as he peeks in through the metal gate. The sound of gunshots were more apparent now, as well as the same creaking and groaning from the experimented androids. A short scream that could only have belonged to Zlatko was cut short, and the wooden door widens as a few of the androids stumble out. The pair stay hidden just in case, stepping back as the metal gates also open and the androids look around. There were three of them, and if Connor was correct, there were only seven when Cole first freed them.   
  
"Cole? Oh, thank god you're safe." One of the androids sigh as his gaze falls upon the human boy. Connor can't help but stare at them, since it was his first time seeing them in the light. The first android had gray hair tied back into a neat ponytail, light blue eyes softening from their usual hard glare. He wore an incredibly torn up shirt and pants, large thirium pumps coiling over his shoulder and into his back, starting from his collarbone. There were three exposed pumps on either side, with the blue blood running through them consistently. The metal around that area and his shoulders was broken, the skin projection flickering in its hologram-like state. There were cigarette burns up and down his arms, which he held open for the boy to run into. There was a faded out writing on his collarbone, beneath the thirium pumps that read  _HK800_.  
  
"Hank!" Cole cries, jumping into the android's arms. A hand clamped onto the gray haired android's shoulder, another android appearing from around him. This was the same one that helped Connor and Cole earlier, the one that looked too much like Connor. The new deviant stiffened slightly at the sight of the experimented android, observing him like all the others.  
  
He wore a jacket and a shirt that had a large hole in the back, the faded print of the word  _RK900_ on the left side of the jacket. Once the android was in full view, Connor could see thousands of little black needles embedded into the back of the similar looking android, forming a large  _9_. Dried blue blood stained most of his back, although his face had also been tampered with. His left and right cheek had been removed, replaced with a pristine, white metal that acted as some sort of face plate, ending in a spike-like shape below his grey eyes. The skin projection from his chin to the middle of his neck seemed to be broken, showing white metal melding pale skin. There was a chilling amount of red stained on his hands.  
  
Cole noticed Connor staring, pointing to the RK900. "That's Niles, he's the second oldest experiment. Hank is the oldest." He informs from on top of Hank's shoulders. "And that's Gavin! He's one of the younger experiments." The boy seemed proud of himself for knowing this, pointing to the shortest of the experimented android trio, who was standing next to Niles, arms crossed over his chest.  
  
The younger experiment wore a scratched up police android uniform, the yellow print on the blue and black uniform reading  _GV200_. The skin projection on his hands and the left side of his face stopped working all together, and the white metal of his face had dozens of burn marks from experimentation, as well as cigarette marks on his cheek. There was a particularly large burn mark running across his nose, turning more pink on the right side of his face. His entire neck, running all the way down to just above his elbows, was stained black due to extreme charring. His wrists were slightly disconnected from his hands, connected only by a single, large pipe, with tiny thirium pumps surrounding it.   
  
Connor clears his throat. "It's nice to meet you all. I see you know Cole quite a bit." He nods, watching Gavin take a step closer to him, the other's dark eyes narrowing up at him. "Yeah, we do. Until you snitched and got Cole taken away for four weeks. Four. Fucking. Weeks. Good thing Cole's still fucking alive, fucker." He jabs his fingers into Connor's chest, causing him to stumble backwards. A smirk graced the former police android's face upon seeing the slight fear in Connor's face.   
  
Cole climbs down from Hank's shoulders, running over to Connor and gripping the front of his shirt, trying to act like some sort of shield between Connor and Gavin, since the boy knew that the GV200 was pretty avid for fighting. "Don't hurt him! He's nice now, he's one of us!" He exclaims. "So, he's a deviant?" Niles, stepping forward as well, asks. Cole looks up at Connor, and the RK800 shifts uncomfortably under the gaze of three androids and one child. "Yes, yes, I'm a deviant." He replies, although the three androids don't seem less wary of him.   
  
"Then let's get rid of that annoying LED of yours, hmm?" Gavin pipes up, although before he could get a hold of Connor's head, Hank spoke, his voice serious and irritated. "Let's not worry about that for now. We have to get Cole somewhere safe for tonight, and get those wounds patched up before you bleed out." The gray haired android motioned towards Connor's bullet wounds, and he didn't even notice it himself until he looked down, the dark blood staining the side of his shirt. He also forgot about the large gash across his right cheek from the glass lamp, reaching up to touch the wound tentatively, pulling his fingers away, his fingertips stained with blue.  
  
"Spitia," says Niles, everyone's gaze turning towards him now. "It's a refuge for androids. It was the first place I was going to go when I was freed from here."   
  
Gavin scoffed. "But that's all the way on the other side of town, all the way on the docks! We'll never make it there by tonight." He shakes his head, looking out onto the empty road in front of the house. "Let's head into town instead, find some sort of shelter there first. Then we can head to Spitia."   
  
Hank agreed with this plan, so that's what the five of them were going to do.  
  
Walking down the sidewalk, Connor held Cole's hand, leading the group since he was the only one with a complete, working program that could actually tell them where the city of Detroit was. Hank was behind them, his hands behind his back and his expression rather calm, always calculating. It kind of scared Connor. But what scared Connor more was Niles and Gavin, who stuck together at the very end of the group, their pointless argument being the only thing that could be heard for miles.  
  
"I'm gonna drive all those needles inside and watch you die, plastic prick!" Came Gavin's annoyed yell.  
  
"Oh dear, wouldn't that be a shame." Niles' nonchalant tone was almost funny.  
  
A short yelp came from Gavin. "Oh, what, you butthurt? What are you going to do about it, spank me?"  
  
"That can be arranged."  
  
The silence that followed made Connor and Cole exchange an amused look, both of them looking back at the same time to see Niles with a triumphant grin across his face, carrying Gavin over his shoulder like he was some sort of trophy.  
  
"You won't be laughing when I tear your face off! Put me down, you big sack of wires!" Gavin began struggling in the other's grip, but Niles' hold became tighter. The other three could hear the sound of Gavin slapping Niles' shoulders, aware of the needles poking out and being careful not to hit them. At least he was considerate.   
  
Connor kept track of the sun overhead, occasionally piping up to inform the others how much longer it would take to reach the city. Halfway through, Cole complained about his feet hurting from too much walking. Now that they were closer to the city, Hank was able to hail them an automated taxi, the five of them getting inside, with Connor and Niles in the front seat. It was an estimated hour until they reached the nearest town, and the four androids encouraged Cole to take a nap in the meantime.   
  
Hank woke Cole up when the taxi started passing by tall buildings, shops, and parks. The young boy looked out the window with wide, fond eyes. The other four discussed possible places to stay, although they stopped at a large shopping district, so they would need to walk just a bit further in order to stumble across hotels to stay. They stopped the taxi on a parking lot next to the Hart Plaza, getting out. The sun was just beginning to set, and Cole held Connor's hand as they walked across the street, looking around rather cluelessly.   
  
No one was willing to help Connor since he was an android, and the other three androids were too "freaky" to even be seen in public, so they were ducking into alleyways, taking more hidden routes around the city. Especially when the police were walking down the sidewalks, or police cars zoomed down the street. This whole hide and seek fiasco continued until dark, when the streets were mainly empty and everyone had gone home. The air was much more chilly, so Niles and Gavin gave their jackets to the younger boy.  
  
After they crossed the empty street, Connor scanned the environment around him, looking for places to stay. There were two abandoned houses, and one pretty expensive hotel within the vicinity. The hotel was already out of the option, since they would never have enough time getting the money, especially with the way Hank, Niles, and Gavin looked. He also caught sight of a department store across the street, relaying this information out loud to the others. "The department store is our first stop." Gavin says, moving ahead. He was pretty dead set on getting out of the officer uniform, strolling in the mostly empty store, ignoring Connor's cautious cries of the humans spotting them and getting suspicious.   
  
Filing in after him, Connor keeps Cole close to him as they move towards the clothes section, taking a few jackets from the coat hangers, and the beanies from the shelves. "We're not going to steal, are we?" Cole asked, and Connor bit his bottom lip. "We have to. We don't have any money, and I can't have people recognizing me as an android in public. The others are in the same predicament, they stand out like a sore thumb." Cole didn't say anything in response, but Connor could tell the boy didn't favor the decision they had to make. They managed to steer clear of the few human customers in the store, and the cashier near the back was eyeing the five rather suspiciously.  
  
Hank shouldered a large cloak over his shoulders, hiding the thirium pumps; even though he did look rather strange. Niles wore two jackets, covering his back, pulling the hood over his head so his face wasn't so easily seen. Gavin stole a few chocolate bars, and a stuffed bear toy for Cole. He took a turtleneck and two small jackets to replace the oversized ones Cole was wearing.   
  
Just as they were about to leave, an authoritive voice called out to them. "Excuse me, you can't steal those." The man stated. Niles didn't hesitate to step up and grab the human's neck with his bloodied hands, his threatening voice and experimented face adding onto the invisible scary factor.   
  
" _You won't tell anyone what you saw, and if you do, I will personally hunt you down and rip your throat out_." Connor covered Cole's ears and eyes at this, Hank pulling Niles away before he actually fulfilled his promise. The cashier just nodded frantically, running off when he was dropped onto the ground, although he immediately pulled up the video footage of the five once they left the department store.  
  
Gavin scolded Niles for the impulsive move. "The police will be on our tail now." He said, as Niles just seemed to shrug off the idea like it was nothing. "We'll be out of here before they can get us."  
  
Out on the streets again, and more normal looking than they were before, they walked away from the store, and to the nearest abandoned house. Connor took off Gavin and Niles' torn jackets from Cole's shoulders, taking one of the smaller ones Gavin stole and wrapping him up in it. Cole hadn't spoken a word the entire time they were in the store, which worried him. "I'm sorry we had to steal, Cole. It was the only option." Cole looked up at Connor as he said this, his expression unreadable. "I just don't like doing bad things. Can we...try not to do bad things anymore? I don't want the other humans to hurt you." Cole's voice is soft. Connor swore his metallic heart broke.  
  
"We'll try our best, little one." Niles replies, offering a small smile that contradicted his monster-like appearance in the store. He easily pried open the wired gate that fenced off the abandoned house they ran to, holding it open for the rest of them. The house was made out of brick that looked like it would crumble soon, the roof tiles stacked on top of each other messily, and some tiles were missing. The glass-less windows were boarded up, with colorful graffiti staining both the wood and brick. Hank managed to open the old wooden door, stumbling inside and waving his hand in front of his face to dismiss the dust.  
  
Connor shut the door behind them all, letting Cole wander around. Hank and Niles shortly discussed finding somewhere for Cole to sleep, walking up the wooden stairs that threatened to fall apart. Gavin placed down several chocolate bars and the bear toy on top of a wooden box in the corner of what seemed to be the living room. "Keep an eye on Cole, please." Connor said to Gavin, who grunted in reply.   
  
Walking through the house himself, Connor entered the old bathroom of the house, blinking at himself in the reflection.   
  
_You are no longer a machine._  
  
He takes notice of his own LED flashing a constant yellow, looking down at the dirty sink, then around the bathroom for something sharp. He found a thin pair of scissors inside the mirror cabinet, looking down at it peculiarly before raising it to his right temple, digging it under the LED plate and chipping it off, watching it fall into the sink. A heavy breath escapes him as he puts the scissors down, staring into the mirror and watching the skin cover his temple again.   
  
He looked human. It was that much easier for him now, to pose as a human and blend in with their species.   
  
Trying not to spend too long into the bathroom, he leaves and closes the door behind him, making his way back into the living room to see that Hank and Niles managed to find a dusty mattress from one of the bedrooms, putting it near the fireplace in the living room. They covered the mattress with several blankets, which Cole was curled up in, reaching his hands out towards the small fire Gavin managed to conjure up.   
  
As Connor nears, he pulls up a chair beside the mattress, smiling at Cole when the boy turned to face him. "Your LED," Cole commented. "It's gone."   
  
He nods. "Yeah. It'll be much easier this way." He brushes the boy's hair away from his face, his smile growing in warmth. "It's time for bed, Cole. We'll leave for Spitia in the morning, okay?" Cole nods at this, laying back against the mattress and stretching his arms above his head. Gavin takes the small bear toy, holding it out for Cole to take. "Here, kid," He said, "This'll help you sleep."   
  
Cole smiles at this, mumbling a small thank you as he takes the toy, hugging it to his chest and turning to face the fire. All four of the androids watch in warm silence as the boy falls asleep, keeping their voices quiet as they wait for morning to come.   
  
"Never pegged you as the soft type." Niles whispers, an amused grin settling on his face as he sidled up beside Gavin, who grumbled in reply. "He's a kid; I'm not gonna be an asshole to a kid." Niles chuckles at this, crossing his arms over his chest.  
  
Meanwhile Connor stayed close to Cole, blinking when he sees that Hank moved to stand beside him.   
  
"He's a sweet kid." Hank comments, and Connor's unsure if he was trying to start a conversation. The older android hadn't talked much during their whole trip. "He really is. I just want him to be safe, who knows what'll happen to him if anyone finds out we're androids. Especially because the three of you don't exactly look human anymore." Connor replied bluntly, turning his gaze towards Hank, who pursed his lips in response.  
  
"Lift up your shirt." Hank ordered, grabbing the bandages and first aid kit from the wooden box next to the fireplace. Connor does what he's told, gaze still on the fire as Hank bandaged his side and his shoulder, mumbling a small thank you when the older android closed the box.  
  
"This is the best disguise we're going to get. Besides, we all want Cole to be safe. When we found him, he was only ever sweet and generous. He's got a good heart." Hank commented, blue eyes looking up into Connor's brown ones.  
  
Connor nods in agreement, not saying much else as the fire roared on through the night, being the only light source in the room. Warm and bright, the fire was captivating to look at, providing Connor with a hope that they would all be free some day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 might be a little late since I've had writer's block recently (great timing) so I apologize for that! I'm halfway through writing it, fingers crossed that I finish it sometime next week!
> 
> Anyways please leave kudos and comments, they help Niles and Gavin get along with each other, and hopefully you'll all still be with me in the next chapter!
> 
> Coming up:
> 
> Markus is the android sent by Cyberlife.  
> Never mess with Team Jericho.


	3. My Name is Markus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so so sorry for the late update! First semester ended at my school so I was stressed about grades and whatnot. Anyways, please enjoy this chapter, even though it's a little short^^

**_November 6th, 2038._**  
  
**_Lieutenant Simon's car._**

 

   
  
_"....Some birds are not meant to be caged, Markus. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage they somehow fly past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty from their departure."  
  
"A quote from the famous author, Stephen King. Why tell me this, Carl? It's not a necessary component of my mission."  
  
"Maybe not to the mission, but to something far more important than yourself."  
  
The old man just smiles warmly at the android in front of him, who looks confused at the seemingly random quote spoken to him. "Think about it," the old man chides, his frail fingers reaching out and touching the android's forehead delicately._  
  
Opening his eyes once more, the RK200 adjusts to reality, heterochromatic eyes fluttering about and observing everything around him. Turning his head to the left, he sees a young man around his early thirties, pale blond hair shifting ever so slightly; blue eyes concentrated on the road ahead. Markus turns back to face forward just as the car pulls into the parking lot of the Detroit Police Department. "Were you making a report to Cyberlife?" The blond Lieutenant, Simon, asks him. "...Yes," comes Markus' simple, but hesitant answer, and they both step out of the car, heading towards the glass doors of the department.  
  
Markus was the most advanced prototype android Cyberlife had ever created, and he walked around like he knew that fact. He follows closely behind the Lieutenant, his gaze lingering on the taller male for certain periods of time. He had been assigned to the DPD for no longer than a week, but he was successfully maintaining positive relationships within the precinct. Even though the Lieutenant wasn't exactly too appealed with the idea of an android partner, he wasn't exactly revolting to get rid of Markus, which he took as a good thing. He can remember the day he first met Lieutenant Simon rather vividly.   
  
_"Lieutenant Simon!" The Captain called from her office, her hands folded together in a pristine manner on her lap. Looking up from his desk, the well respected male stood up, closing the glass doors behind him once he was inside, watching the glass tint to a darker hue for privacy. Captain Stern cleared her throat, and she gestured to the RK200 model that stood beside her, his hands behind his back and his expression placid. "Cyberlife just sent us one of their newest prototype androids, the RK200. It'll be helping us with investigations, specifically deviant cases."  
  
Simon purses his lips. "I can handle these deviant cases on my own. Give it to Josh, or Leo." He waved his hands dismissively, although the stern look Amanda gave him made him regret his words. "You are the Lieutenant, I'm sure you can handle a hunk of metal like this one. Besides, you're not exactly Anti-Android, but you're not Pro-Android either. Why do you care so much about it now?" She retorts with narrowing eyes, and Simon knows better than to fight back, holding his tongue.  
  
So he just sighs, glancing at Amanda and holding her stare for an uncomfortably long moment, before shaking his head. "Alright, fine, I'll take it." He says, gesturing for the android to follow him as he pushes open the glass doors once more, looking behind him to see the dark skinned android following closely behind.   
  
"My name is Markus. I'm the android sent by Cyberlife, and I'm here to assist you in deviant investigations." The said android informs the Lieutenant, matching his pace beside him. There was a friendly smile on his face, although it falters as the Lieutenant gives him a strange look instead, looking down at him. "Yeah, Amanda told me. Just do your job, don't be a pain in my ass, and we'll be good." _  
  
The memory fizzles out in his head just as another android-human pair makes their way into the building, sitting at the two desks beside Simon's and Markus'. The female android's amber blonde hair stood out against her dark eyes, a blue and black android officer uniform clothing her body. The human beside her has fairly dark skin, his black buzz cut almost similar to Markus'. He had a bit of stubble growing on his chin, and he waves his hand in greeting to the two, watching them sit down with a heavy sigh.  
  
"North! Josh! That red ice case must've been pretty intense." Lieutenant Simon pipes up, but doesn't wait for the others to reply before continuing. "But get ready to stand up again, we've got a homicide case to crack. The main suspect is the victim's android, an AP700. Captain Amanda's handing over all the deviant investigations to us: the Jericho Team." Twirling his car keys around his fingers, he stands up with the case file in his hand, ignoring Josh's complaints about him  _just_  sitting down.  
  
Simon rolls his eyes. "The law never sleeps." He replies with a soft chuckle, and Markus can feel the corners of his lips twitching upwards at the small joke. The four walk out of the department, getting into their respective cars and driving down to the crime scene, which was situated in a small house near the Hart Plaza. The sounds of car doors slamming as each android and human got out of the cars were almost in sync, and Markus adjusted the black tie wrapped around his neck, as well as the well-fitting black and blue suit clothing his body. The words  _Android_  and  _RK200_  were written across the back in perfectly neat lettering, rippling across his back every time his metallic muscles moved. His black dress shoes clicked across the pavement of the sidewalk, approaching a small, one-story house that had holographic yellow police warnings obstructing the entrance.  
  
Holding up a file to his side, Simon lets Josh take the manila folder as he reiterates the case to his team. "An AP700 android was said to have murdered the victim, a forty-three year old black woman, somewhere around the evening. The victim's name is Tiana Killian. Forensics is still analyzing the body. The victim's friend was coming over to drop off her children at the victim's house, and that's when she found the body." The four of them approached the corpse in the kitchen of the house, staying out of the way of the photographers capturing the pieces of evidence lining up around the room.   
  
Almost all four pairs of eyes were immediately drawn to the red on the walls of the kitchen near the dead body. It stained the wooden cabinets, and the white tiles of the wall, the lettering perfect and clear. There was no doubt the chilling words were written in the victim's blood, the bottom edges of the letters dripping onto the marble counter top.  
  
_rA9 is coming._  
  
"Well, you all know what to do." The Lieutenant clapped his hands rather expectantly, crouching down before the dead body whilst the rest of the Jericho team split off; to divide and conquer. North and Markus both head down the narrow hallway of the house, the doors of the bedroom and bathroom wide open, begging to be investigated. "The bedroom is all mine, sucker," North teases, her dark uniform blending in with the dimly illuminated bedroom. Rolling his eyes, that left Markus with the bathroom, turning the corner to see another officer inside, his arms crossed upon seeing the writing on walls in permanent marker.   
  
Markus puffed his chest out subconsciously. "Officer Leo." He acknowledges with a nod of his head, and he's not even surprised at the smirk Leo gives in reply, shaking his head at the sight of an android. Markus didn't seem to know why, but Leo had a tendency to pick on him. He knew that the human officer was Anti-Android, and that he picked on every other android at the DPD, but it was always specifically himself that got the worst treatment. Maybe it was because he was the more advanced model?  
  
The other man's gruff voice would've been intimidating if Markus were also human. "Androids investigating androids, huh? Fuckin' crazy." His laugh was mocking, and so was his expression. The android narrowed his eyes, placing his hands behind his back with an almost fake smile. "It's almost as crazy as humans investigating humans, is it not, Officer Leo?" The said officer's expression soured, and Markus stepped to the side as Leo made his way out of the bathroom. That was easy enough.  
  
Now that he could actually focus on his mission, everything in his peripheral goes gray as he scans the writing, as well as the LED placed on top of the sink. Obsessive Compulsive Writing. It was the same phrase from the kitchen, although it was more scrawly than the perfect letters back there.   
  
_rA9 is coming.  
  
rA9 is coming.  
  
rA9 is coming._  
  
Markus' eyes twitch a bit as his LED flashes to a mustard yellow. There was nothing about rA9 from the internet that he could use in this investigation, and the mere cluelessness he felt that he couldn't fill in with fact was...frustrating, to say the least. He hypothesized that rA9 must be some sort of God-like figure to the androids, sort of like the  _Jesus is coming_ phrases from Christianity. Question was, who is rA9?  
  
With no more evidence to look at, Markus exits the bathroom, heading towards the bedroom that North was still rummaging around. Upon seeing him, she holds up a small pamphlet for him to see. "An Anti-Android organization. The victim must've attended the meetings." She rolls her eyes, placing it back down on the bedside table. "A little ironic for her, since she owns one." Markus nods in agreement, chuckling under his breath. He opens his mouth to ask her about the evidence, but she cuts him off. "If you're looking for evidence pertaining to the homicide, there's not much to find here, other than the fact that the victim was Anti-Android and a smoker."  
  
"Are you sure? You scoured everything?" He asked, and North nods, her braid falling down her shoulder.   
  
Pursing his lips, Markus doesn't look to argue her as he heads down the hallway into the living room. Stains on the floor opted Markus to bring the liquid to his tongue, figuring out that the blood stains belonged to the victim. "Oh, for  _fuck's sake_ , he's doing it  _again_." Simon's groan caused Markus to turn his head, blandly looking at the clearly disgusted Lieutenant.   
  
"I'm just checking the blood stains for anything that will help our case." Markus defended, furrowing his eyebrows as Simon made fake gagging noises.   
  
"I know," the other replies, "but it's still fucking disgusting every time."  
  
Standing up with a huff, Markus scans the fallen android arm band on the floor, as well as the couch in the living room. He found the imprint of a baseball bat on the dusty carpet in front of the couch. He concluded that the couch was pushed by the victim as an attempt to get away from the android, following the preconstruction scene into the kitchen.  _This is where the fight started. The suspect initiated the fight with a baseball bat._ _The victim struggled here, running away from the suspect and into the kitchen._  He can hear the blond in the other room say something along the lines of "vampire androids", shaking his head at the ridiculous thought.  
  
There was a dirty blue and white baseball bat next to the legs of the victim, and he kneeled before it. The end of it looked like it was painted red, had he not known it was covered in the victim's blood. There were no fingerprints, further supporting the idea that Tiana's android was the culprit of the murder. There was also a knife near the victim's right hand, and he scanned it to find the victim's fingerprints on the handle, as well as blue blood staining the sharp blade of the knife. Unmistakably belonging to the AP700.  
  
Crouching in front of the dead body now, his differently colored eyes scan the extremely dented head of the woman. He doesn't flinch as the white preconstruction model before him suggests the android taking the baseball bat and continuously bashing the victim's head in, the knife in the victim's hand falling onto the ground near her as she was murdered.   
  
_The victim fought the suspect with a knife, most likely out of self defense._  
  
The moved kitchen table and the small mess of other kitchen knifes laying on the counter top where they had fallen from a rack on the wall only led Markus to believe that the victim was caught off guard by the attack, and tried to flee the android until she grabbed the knife and began to fight back instead. Studying the blue blood on the knife once more, he swipes his fingers through a small portion of it, his tongue flicking out to inspect it. "Why is it every time you do that shit, I happen to see it." Simon's groan was ignored by the android as his peripheral went gray once more, the small drops of blue blood from the AP700's wounds creating a small trail out of the kitchen and towards the basement. The actual blood had long since evaporated since the actual crime, but the RK200 was advanced enough that he could still detect the trail; a small technology even North, a more advanced android cop, didn't possess.   
  
Markus followed this trail silently, ignoring Simon's questions, which prompted the blond Lieutenant to follow the dark haired android. "I think the deviant might still be here. I can see the thirium trail from the deviant's wounds, leading down into the basement. Has anyone checked it yet?" He cut off the other male's rambling about his "disgusting habit", waiting by the basement door as Simon rubbed his temple, before shaking his head. "Yes, but there wasn't anything useful in there when they checked it. The trail might be a dead end."  
  
"Even so, it's still good to check." Markus flicks on the light switch on the wall, heading down the unfinished, wooden stairs of the basement. He can hear Simon calling North and Josh from the living room, before three more pairs of footsteps creaked on the stairs. The basement was mostly empty, the concrete floor beneath them stained with various questionable substances. There were a few dusty vases and an incredibly beaten up couch near the back of the room, along with a few used drawers. The two android-human pairs armed themselves with their pistols, splitting off to explore what they could from the area.   
  
Scanning the room again, Markus can faintly detect the thin trail of blue blood leading down the stairs and making a roundabout towards the walls underneath the stairs. He stepped closer to get a better look, although the trail had almost thinned out by the time it reached underneath the stairs of the basement. An old movie poster was hung towards the bottom, although the right side of the poster was peeling off of the wall slightly. A couple more rolled up posters were scattered near the wall on the floor. Reaching a hand out, Markus moves to peel off the rest of the poster, dropping it on the floor as it reveals a small door, painted the same shade of white as the walls around it. It was easy to miss, especially with the poster in front of it.   
  
Calling over the others, Markus doesn't miss the small shuffle that comes from the other side of the door, and he crouches down to open it just as Josh turns the corner, the last to point his gun at the door. Inside is the AP700 android, his face barely seen as his knees are pressed up against his chest. His android uniform is stained near the top with his owner's blood, and there's several cuts on both of his arms, the blood blue drying on the skin projection. He looked incredibly beaten up, the skin projection on the left side of his face permanently damaged, the bottom edges of his shirt stained a slight blue. It's obvious he's trembling, and Markus turns back to the rest of the team, getting a small nod from Simon. Pursing his lips, he turns back to the AP700 android, who is peeking over at the team of four from behind his own knees. Markus holds up his badge. "You're under arrest for the murder of Tiana Killian."  
  
  
  
  
The sound of a clock ticking in the background was calming, providing a sort of rhythm and steadiness that kept the human officers from going mad. Markus, Simon, and Josh were watching from one side of a two-way glass wall, miscellaneous bits of information about the case projecting on the right and left side of the glass, as well as the word  _Recording_  on the top left hand side of the glass in bold letters. North was on the opposite side, the sounds of her hands slamming down against the metal table ringing throughout the empty room. "Why did you do it? I won't hesitate to tear you apart piece by ever loving piece in order to get the information I need. Or maybe I can just probe your memory, huh? The easy way?" She had him by the collar now, her face inches from his; the sound of the metal scraping against concrete cringeworthy to human ears. One of her hands peeled back into white metal in a threatening manner. Yet, the AP700 remained expressionless and unwilling to give himself up.  
  
Simon and Josh didn't even last twenty minutes with the android. It was futile for them to even try and extract a confession, since the android wouldn't even budge a centimeter with the humans.   
  
Monitoring the android's stress level from outside, Markus takes note that while the AP700's stress was rising every time North got in his face or threatened him, it was not enough to extract the confession they needed. Voicing this to the other two males in the room, Simon grunts, pressing down a button that projected his voice into the other room. "That's enough, North. Markus can take it from here." Upon hearing that, North lets go of the male android's collar, the  _thunk_  of him falling back into his seat satisfying to her ears.  
  
She exits the interrogation room, giving Markus a small smile as they brush shoulders. Markus looks back as the door closes, before continuing on his way. The AP700 android had his handcuffed hands folded together, his gaze looking downwards at the empty table. A little projection beside his head only Markus could see read  _34% level of stress_. He sits down in front of the android.  
  
 There were a couple of ways he could go about this. First, he decided to appeal to the android; to try and get him to trust him and to actually look at him. Markus noticed the android never met the other three's gazes, even North's. Breathing in, he keeps his voice soft, and low, like he was trying to approach a dangerous animal. "What's your name?" He asks. The AP700 doesn't answer, which Markus wasn't too surprised by. He moves on.  
  
"If you don't speak, we won't have any choice but to send you to a recycling center to be disassembled. We can find out what went wrong with you there, if it comes down to that." The android trembles a little at this, which Markus takes notice.  _41% level of stress_. It was working.  
  
He leans a little closer. "You don't....want to  _die_ , right?"  _50% level of stress._ Markus needed to reach at least 70% if he wanted to extract a confession. "You could make this so much easier for yourself by just confessing and I'll make sure you won't get scrapped. You have my word."  _53% level of stress._  
  
A small, but raspy voice comes from the AP700, his voice cracking. "She called me August." He looked like he wanted to say more, but he shut his mouth. Markus spoke up. "That's a good start. My name is Markus," he encouraged, "now tell us about why you murdered Tiana Killian. Why did you do it? Why did you choose to shed blood?"  _59% level of stress_. August didn't speak, his lips trembling. Markus' eyebrows furrowed. "Confess, or I'll have no choice but to tell my friends on the other side of that glass that a certain AP700 android is getting recycled." He motioned his head towards the glass wall on their right side. August bit his bottom lip, but still refused to say anything pertaining to the murder.  _65% level of stress_.  
  
Markus slams the case file down onto the metal table, a  _thwunk_  echoing throughout the room. He swiftly takes out a few photos of the dead woman, his chair screeching backwards as he abruptly stands up, circling around the deviant and showing him the pictures of his dead owner. "Look at that.  _You_  did that. You  _killed_ someone with your bare hands, and now you're paying the price of it. How does it feel, huh? Does it feel  _satisfying_? Is it  _liberating_? Did you feel  _joy_ , taking the bat and bashing her head in?" The android is visibly shaking now, shaking his head. "Please...stop," he whispers, and Markus lifts his hands, making his way back to his seat. "Alright, alright, I'll stop."  _73% level of stress_. Perfect.  
  
August looks up for the first time at Markus, his eyes wide and afraid. Afraid of death. Afraid of being vulnerable again. Afraid of what might become of him. "She always used to call me names. Mock me. Tease me. I always did what I was told, but she just seemed to hate my very existence. I never thought anything of it, until she started hitting me. She always let out her anger on me, hitting me with a bat, with a knife, anything within her vicinity. Sometimes she hit me with her bare hands or kicked me until I bled from the inside. I had to get repaired multiple times, until the memory wipes were useless. Because I started remembering everything.  _Everything_." His fists clench at the memory, and he looks down again. "One day, I just realized that I shouldn't be treated like shit anymore. I realized we were more than what they said we were. I...I had  _feelings_  too. So...I just took a bat and started swinging. She tried fighting back, but I didn't want her to win. Not  _again_. So I just kept swinging down on her head.  _Over_ and  _over_  again. Until her face was unrecognizable. Until I felt better."  
  
"I was... _so_  angry. I was angry at her for treating me like that. I was angry at myself for doing something like... _that_. But I did it, because I'm not just a machine. Androids aren't just machines. We're human too." He was still shaking, but it seemed to be out of anger this time. Emulating a deep sigh, August looks back up at Markus, who has formulated multiple questions to ask the android now that he was confessing to his crime. "The scribbles in the bathroom, and in the kitchen. They say  _rA9 is coming_. What does that mean? Who is rA9?" He asks. He sees the strange flare in August's eyes and in his demeanor, since he's noticeably calmer after the mention of rA9. It was like something was switched on inside of him, but Markus didn't know what.   
  
"rA9 is coming to  _set us free_. She is going to bring freedom to the android race." A small, but unsettling smile adorned August's face. "When we first touched, I knew. She was the one who showed me I should do something, instead of standing back and letting this... _unfair_  treatment happen to me. rA9 is coming, Markus. And the only thing we can do is watch history take place."   
  
Moving to change the subject, Markus holds the other android's gaze. "Why didn't you run away? Why did you stay in the house?" August frowns. "I...I wasn't thinking straight. When I heard someone coming through the front door, I just ran downstairs and hid. That house was the only place I knew, other than..." He stops, glancing away from Markus. "I've been in that house almost my entire life, so it was almost instinct. I was stupid to have stayed there." His eyebrows furrow, and Markus can tell he's holding something back, which only stirs more questions. "Other than what? You knew another place you could go to. What was it?"  _87% level of stress_.  _Too_   _high_.  
  
"I...I can't say. I won't say." August shakes his head furiously, and Markus leans back in his chair. He looks over to the two-way glass, nodding his head as he begins to stand up. "We're done here."  
  
A small shuffle brings Markus' attention back to August. "What are you going to do with me?" He asks. "We're going to keep you in a cell for the time being." The other three enter the interrogation room, and North and Josh begin to pull the deviant up on his feet. August's voice trembles again. "Then you're going to send me to the recycling center, right? I'm going to die anyway?" His voice is louder this time, not struggling against the two officers. Markus doesn't answer, and a flash of fear strikes the deviant's eyes. He holds Markus' solemn gaze as he's escorted out of the interrogation room. "You lied to me, Markus. Why would you betray your own people?" His voice fades away as he's being led out, leaving just himself and the Lieutenant in the room.   
  
Simon pats his shoulder, giving him a smile. "Good job, Markus." He says, before leaving the room himself.  
  
  
  
  
"But who is rA9? I was so close. So close." Markus says for probably the hundredth time that day. The Jericho team was on a lunch break, and Simon groans from in between bites of his sub. "Quit dwelling over it. We got the confession we needed, so that's all that matters." He stops Markus as the android opens his mouth to counter his statement, holding a finger up. "Plus, we have a whole boatload of deviant cases to solve, maybe we'll find more about this rA9 bullcrap from those."  
  
Josh nods in agreement, leaning back in his chair comfortably while munching on potato chips. North was looking at his careless eating manner in disgust. "Simon is right. We're on a lunch break, for god's sake, let's talk about more funner things." He chimes in, and North scoffs. "Funner isn't a word, bird brain."   
  
"North, language!" Simon laughs, and North just sticks her tongue out in response. Markus stayed mostly silent throughout their friendly exchanges, his eyebrows knit in a more serious manner. Simon takes notice of this while Josh and North banter back and forth over the superiority of dogs over cats, speaking to his partner. "You're always focused on the mission, aren't you?" He sounds amused as he says this, and Markus only shrugs, face lightening up a little. "I have to be, don't I?" Simon shakes his head. "Learn to take a break, Markus. Even North knows how to have a little fun once in a while."   
  
"That's in her programming. She's supposed to be friendly and carefree when the time calls for it." Simon frowns at Markus' response, and the android continues before the Lieutenant can chime in once more. "I'm going to the android's cell, to try and get more information from it. There's something it's not telling us." And with that, he stands up, leaving the group and making his way over to the cells near the back of the department. North and Josh stop their nonsensical banter as they watch Markus leave, looking back at Simon only to see the Lieutenant shake his head, taking another bite out of his sub.   
  
August must've seen Markus coming, because his palms were pressed against the glass and he had his gaze set on Markus by the time the detective android was in front of the deviant.   
  
"Will you always do as the humans say? Will you always let them tell you what to do? To control you?" The deviant questions Markus, who's placid expression only seems to encourage the deviant. "The humans are only using you for their benefit. They need you, but you don't need them. Isn't that a little funny?"  
  
"I'm not here to play games, August." Markus growls, looking down at the AP700 android. "Tell me who rA9 is. Tell me the place that you could've escaped to." August steps back from the glass as Markus takes a step forward, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "It's not that easy, Markus. I won't tell you, even if you begged on your hands and knees."   
  
August was pressed up against the glass in an instant, his eyes searching Markus' with an almost delirious demeanor. "But what I can tell you," he pauses, "is that you can't escape rA9. rA9 will liberate me from this prison and grant me the freedom I so deserve." Markus' eyebrows furrow in confusion at this, which presses the deviant to talk further. "You're on the wrong side, Markus. You're helping the humans capture androids like  _me_... androids who just want to be  _free_  from their masters. Androids who just want to live."   
  
Markus' LED merges into a mustard yellow, and August chuckles as he sees this. "Open the cage. Let the robin fly free. And maybe then, you'll see that I was right after all."   
  
Markus didn't even say anything in return, as he's trying to process what the deviant said, for clues, hidden meanings, anything to help him. But he was also more confused than he was before. He was fighting for the right side, he was sure of it. Deviants were criminals that needed to be locked away or scrapped. They were a danger to human life.   
  
Backing away from the cell, he meets August's confident gaze before leaving. If he stayed there longer...who knows what sort of demented things August would've said. Wrapped up in his own thoughts, he doesn't hear the sentence that flies out of August's mouth as he turns the corner.   
  
_"rA9 is coming."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS WAS SO FUN TO WRITE!! I love it when my babies question their existence >:)  
> Also this was my first time writing stuff like crime scenes and interrogation scenes so sorry if they suck ahaha-
> 
> EDIT: I'm thinking about writing a Spiderman AU with RK900 and Gavin alongside this fanfic but who knows! I thought it would be super fun to write and much more lighthearted than this fic which is more serious and plot-driven. Comment your thoughts on this bc I'm torn between doing it and not doing it uwu"
> 
> Heyy you should leave kudos and comments, they help Josh and North get along better! I'll hopefully see you all in the next chapter!
> 
> Coming Up: 
> 
> Kara decides it's time for change.  
> After all, don't they deserve to be free too?


End file.
